The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Depth will be key in Cove’s play-off push – Livingstone
Adam Livingstone has backed Cove Rangers’ depth of squad to see them through the challenges of a League One promotion bid.
Manager Paul Hartley has had to rotate his squad over a hectic period, which has seen his side play six games in the last three weeks.
Bar the Scottish Cup game at Rangers, Cove have maintained their impressive run of form, which stretches to seven matches unbeaten in League One.
They sit second in the table, three points behind Falkirk heading into the meeting between the two sides at the Balmoral Stadium this weekend (noon).
Defender Livingstone, who arrived last summer after being let go by Premiership side Motherwell, has found himself in the team again after injury to regular leftback Harry Milne, who is out for the rest of the season with an ankle injury.
Hartley has also been able to bolster his squad with the addition of Aberdeen loanees Kieran Ngwenya and Kevin Hanratty for the run-in.
Livingstone said: “We’ve got good cover in good areas. With Kieran (Ngwenya) coming in – I don’t think I’d be able to play 90 minutes every game.
“A lot of the players have played 90 minutes in every game over the last two weeks.
“It just gives us that bit of time to rest and it’s good for us. It gives us time to recover.
“Injuries are making it harder for the team, but for me, from last Sunday (the Rangers game), I was able to get more rest for playing on Saturday, which made me feel a lot better for the game.
“It’s a shame what’s happened to Harry with his injury, and I hope he recovers quickly.
“However, it does give me a chance to prove what
I can do, which I’ve not had previously.
“Hopefully, I can put some games together and go into next season strong, hopefully having won the league.”
Cove have two games to go before the split and then will face four fixtures against the rest of the tophalf sides which will determine the success of their season.
Livingstone added: “We really need to start winning more games, so it’s good that we got the three points on Saturday.
“This is the time of the season where there’s no room for error. There’s two games left and we want to keep ourselves right up there so we are ready for the split.
“We just need to be more clinical in front of goal. We got a scrappy goal (against Dumbarton) but we need to take those, as they’re the ones we’ve not been getting over the last couple of weeks.”